Death Penalty Essays and Research Papers Page 2

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People who are put on death row have committed crimes against the right to life. A crime against the right to life includes crimes like murder. “People like Lonnie Franklin Jr… sentenced to death in Los Angeles for the killing of 10 young African American women” (Hanisee). This shows a case in California where the convicted person committed a crime against the right to life, which in this case is the murder of multiple people.

The majority of death penalty cases involve murder, rape and other heinous crimes to multiple people. If someone takes away a person’s right to life, then the punishment should fit the crime. “We should only execute those who most deserve it.” The death penalty is only used against people who have committed the worst of crimes and will have their punishment be matched with what they have committed. The courts and the justice system provide a well-structured system that is not unfair to anyone and gives people the punishment equal to their actions.

Furthermore, the ways that we carry out the death penalty are becoming more humane. In the past, we used to carry out the death penalty by electrocution in the electric chair, firing squad and even hanging or gas chambers. Now, however, in the majority of cases we use what is called lethal injection. Lethal injection is a mix of three drugs that knocks out the patient using sodium thiopental. This makes the inmate go unconscious so they do not feel anything. then uses a paralyzing agent called pancuronium bromide to paralyze the muscles so the inmate is unable to move. Lastly, the last drug in the three-drug cocktail called potassium chloride that disrupts the electrical current and stops the heart. “Physician involvement in lethal injection can make death penalty less grotesque… no one should be sentenced to a botched execution.” (Baum, Cantor). Physicians are used to comfort the patient as the drugs or other forms of death penalty take place. They ease them and administer their death so that it is not torture as they are dying.

Many people would argue against the death penalty with the reasoning it is discriminatory, meaning that it targets minority races. These arguments mostly involve people saying that it is rigged against blacks or Hispanics. However, statistics show that is false, “The racial breakdown for those sentenced to death since 1977 is as follows: 48.6 percent white; 40.9 percent black; 8.9 percent Hispanic.The race of defendants executed in the U.S. since 1976 is 56 percent white; 35 percent black; 7 percent Hispanic”. These statistics show us that whites are affected most of all, and that the death penalty does not favor any race or minority in particular. This form of punishment affects everyone equally, not discriminating against anyone.

There are ways to refine it to help benefit the innocent and not to target anyone in specific. Only those deserving of it. It does not target anyone based on race or discriminate against specific people. Overall the death penalty has proven to be fair and is becoming increasingly effective as we discover ways to make it more humane and safe for innocent people.